Normal (A Divergent Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty Three

*Years later*

"Susan! Robert! Get up! You need to eat and head out to school." I called up to my children. They were usually ready on time, but lately, they have been nervous.

Their aptitude test was tomorrow, next day the choosing ceremony. I remembered mine like it was just a week ago. Yet so much has happened between that time.

Peyton came out and gave me a kiss on the cheek before sitting at the table. Susan and Robert came down as well. The food already on the table. We still ate the same oatmeal as when I first came here.

"What are the leaders going to do today?" Robert asked his father, getting a stern look. Children weren't supposed to talk unless spoken to at the table, but he just wanted to know, so Peyton sighed and answered him.

"We are deciding who will be announcing tomorrow's ceremony. It's our turn this year, and everyone is leaning towards Marcus. He's a great speaker. Don't you think so dear?"

"Why of course." I said, though my stomach was in knots over the thought of him. The memory of what he has done to both Evelyn and Tobias still haunts me. It did not come to a shock to me when I heard Tobias defacted, but it was strange he went to Dauntless. I just hoped that I never had to see him when I went to feed the factionless. It would just break my heart.

***

I sent the kids to school as I picked up the dishes. Peyton left with them, I could here him ask both the Prior children if they wanted a ride in his car. Just like always, they declined the ride. So instead, like always, Susan and Robert walked with them while Peyton drove to work.

I stayed home to wash the dishes quickly before going out to help the factionless.

***

I met up with Natalie and Erin. Both their husbands were also on the leaders table. Each of us grabbed a box of cans and began to walk down with the rest of the women and children who stayed.

The factionless had grown in the last few years. Many of them coming from Dauntless. Something new had been going on with their initiation process I had heard. It made me even more fearful that Tobias would be there, yet at least he would be with his mother.

If we ever even saw her there. Evelyn never showed up when we brought food, though now we ran on a schedule where we brought boxes over every Wednesday. I wished so much that I would see her, as did Natalie and Erin, but we never did.

Instead, we handed the boxes and helping stack them inside the factionless compound. The sink I had helped construct with Paul and Carl still stood in the corner, yet I didn't know if it worked still.

On our way home, Natalie and Erin were talking, but I could here it all.

"So, Duncan was telling me that Erudite is trying to say that we are harboring people," she left a dramatic pause, "Divergents."

Natalie stiffened slightly. "Well, if we were, don't you think we'd know about it? Who is even in charge of Erudite now?"

"I heard it was Jeanne Matthews."

I remembered her. She had dared me to eat a sandwich in school. As we walked, I thought about her, wondering why she would spread such hateful things. Us Abnegation are simple and nice. We'd also never harbor people, especially Divergents. They're dangerous to society. They don't conform. Yet, they seem so free, and helpful. All I know is that they aren't like the rest of us, and somehow that makes them dangerous.

"Nicole, where do you think you're children will go in two days?" Erin asked me.

"I don't really know. I try not to think of that. Makes it seem too real. Even though they would fit perfectly here, I feel they could go somewhere else. I just want them to be happy in their decision." I answered honestly.

"Well, I know that my children will defact." Natalie said.

"How do you know?" Both Erin and I asked, shocked she would say something like that.

"Just look at them. Beatrice doesn't step right up to help and Caleb just happens to know everything about here, and doesn't show his full knowledge. I've seen his hidden books in his room before. I was putting his clothes away and saw them tucked away, hidden from normal view."

"Wow, you'll miss them so much I bet." Erin said, putting a hand on her shoulder, then quickly taking it back.

"Yea, but I know they'll be where they belong."

"Where does Beatrice belong?" I asked.

"That I don't know." She looked up at the sky. We were just reentering the Abnegation compound. "She's a little tricky. She tries so hard to fit in here, she never even hints at what she could be. Sometimes I think Candor, but then I remember that she lies too easily. Especially when she was a child."

"That would be a hard skill to keep in Candor." I said. The three of us laughed as we made it back to the community center and signed out of helping for the day.